Where and How to download Spring Framework JAR file (Spring 4.0 or Spring 3.2) without Maven, Gradle

One of the easiest and oldest ways to run a Java program which depends on an external library or framework is to download dependency JAR files, put it on the classpath and then run the program by creating a Main class with the main() method. This is simple but not as easy as you think, there are many challenges down the road e.g. you need to find the right version of JAR files and their dependencies e.g. Spring might have a dependency on other third party libraries like Log4j. So, when the build tool like Maven and Gradle comes, everybody stopped downloading the JAR file manually. All they do is specify the Maven dependency and Maven will download the JAR file of specified version along with their dependencies. This greatly simplified the development and testing of Java application which uses a framework like Spring and Hibernate.

Read more �